Death Brings New Life
by rasengan86
Summary: With Akatsuki no more, Naruto was ready to face death even though it meant he couldn't become Hokage. He was looking forward to a peaceful afterlife, but with Naruto things are never that simple. [NaruBleach xover] Pairing undecided
1. Chapter 1

**Death Brings New Life**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Bleach or anything else.

**Kyuubi Speech: "speech"**

**Thinking: '**_speech'_

* * *

As Uzumaki Naruto looked at the carnage in front of him he couldn't help but feel...free. After all the training and the sacrifices it was over, Akatsuki was no more. The mutilated bodies of the three founding members Konan, Pein and Uchiha Madara lie dead, slain by his own hands.

Looking down at the bodies before him, the intense hatred he harbored for these individuals that had threatened to consume him these past to years was laid to rest. Which surprised Naruto considering everything they put him through and what they took from him, he had expected to hate them all the way into the next life.

When Naruto had returned from what began as a mission to locate Sasuke and Tsunade told him that Jiraiya had been killed in Amegakure by the Akatsuki Leader, he had never been so angry...

The blond haired boy pulled himself from those thoughts; after all it didn't matter anymore. Akatsuki, arguably the most dangerous threat the shinobi world had ever faced was no more.

All it had cost Naruto was the life of his sensei, as well as his own.

Uzumaki Naruto, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and son of the Yondaime Hokage lay in a pool of his own blood watching Tsunade and his teammate, Haruno Sakura engage in a futile attempt to save his life.

Sakura poured medical chakra into Naruto until she passed out from chakra exhaustion, leaving Tsunade trying to heal him herself. Regardless of the Konoha nin with her insisting that it was hopeless. When she began to run low on chakra she diverted it from her **Infuuin: Sozo Saizen** (Shadow Seal: Genesis Rebirth) as well as what she used to maintain her young appearance.

But even with all that, it wouldn't be enough and reality set in for Tsunade that she would not be able to save her favorite subordinate...she would have to watch another loved one die in her care.

Tsunade held Naruto close to her chest and cried.

'_Sandwiched between Tsunade-baachan's gigantic breasts, not a bad way to go, not bad at all...looks like Ero-Sennin finally rubbed off on me.'_

He looked up at Tsunade and gave her a small smile, and with that Uzumaki Naruto died.

* * *

Now in his youth Naruto had never been the most observant person, things often went over his head and even when they didn't he would usually need things explained two or three times. Luckily at eighteen Naruto had for the most part fixed that shortcoming.

So when the blond opened his eyes and stood up he noticed a few things. First was the fact that Tsunade and the others were still crying over his corpse, this reminded him that he had died and was now probably some sort of spirit. A fact that was confirmed by the fact that nobody seemed to see or hear him.

And finally (although perhaps he should have noticed this first), he noticed that somebody had a hand on his shoulder.

"Ohayo!"

"AHHHH!"

A startled Naruto would have jumped ten feet in the air, if not for the chain coming out of his stomach where his seal used to be binding him to the ground.

As he turned around, Naruto idly wondered how whoever was behind him could see spirits as well as what the deal was with the chain in his stomach.

The stranger was one of the most oddly dressed individuals Naruto had ever seen, and this takes into account Rock Lee and Maito Gai. He wore a black kimono and hakama with a white obi around his waist. He had pale blond hair similar to Tsunade's and he was currently looking at Naruto with an amused expression.

"I don't know who the hell you are but DON'T EVER SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!" screamed an irate Naruto.

"Well aren't you a shinboi? You should be paying better attention to your surroundings." said the man

A vein ticked on Naruto's forehead as he briefly wondered if he could strangle this person with the chain coming out of his chest.

"Oh gomen, I haven't introduced myself yet. Urahara Kisuke, 3rd seat of the second squad of the Gotei 13. I am a shinigami." said the man called Urahara as he bowed towards the recently deceased shinobi.

The Hokage hopeful slowly went over what Urahara had just told him in his head...before he burst out laughing.

"You...ha ha ha...the Death God, ha ha, that's funny," said Naruto in between laughs, "the Shinigami is a big monster that strikes fear into all who have the misfortune to gaze upon him, everyone knows that."

The recently declared captain of the twelfth division seemed to ponder something for a moment before speaking.

"Yeah, well about that..."

The tone of the so-called shinigami's voice and the look on his face gave Naruto the impression that he was not going to like what he was about to be told.

Overall, he was right.

Over the next half hour Kisuke gave Naruto an overview of everything he needed to know: the shinigami, the Gotei 13, hollows, what having the Kyuubi sealed inside of him meant for his afterlife, all of it.

And it was quite the story.

"So let me get this straight, what we know as the Shinigami is actually an incomplete soul that YOU Shinigami call a Hollow. And thanks to traces of this Hollow's reiatsu in the seal I have the potential to become a shinigami once you pull the Kyuubi out of me and send it to face judgment. Did I miss anything?" asked Naruto sarcastically.

"Only that the souls of your four Hokages are trapped within this Hollow and that with the exception of possibly freeing their souls, once I perform **Konso **(Soul Burial), you probably won't see any of your friends again once they die." explained Urahara in a solemn tone.

Naruto's mood darkened for a moment upon hearing that.

'_tou-san, oji-san.'_

Suddenly the blond looked up and eccentric shinigami couldn't help but notice that the boy had the fiercest look of determination in his eyes that he'd ever seen.

"Well then I'll just become a shinigami, break into that Hollow-world place, kick that fake shinigami's ass and free the Hokages," shouted the shorter of the two blonds.

For some reason, Urahara Kisuke couldn't find it in him to doubt anything Naruto had said. But he couldn't think about that now, he still had to separate the Kyuubi from Naruto.

"Naruto, I need you to lie down so I can extract the Kyuubi from you." said the shinigami in a voice that held none of the playful tone he had been using before.

So Naruto complied with the request of the shinigami and listened as Urahara explained exactly what was going to happen. Apparently them man was going to use his sword, zanpakuto as he called it, to draw the Kyuubi out from the new hole in his chest since that's where the seal was.

It wasn't supposed to be a particularly difficult process but if the Kyuubi fought back it was bound to be painful, and judging by how unpleasant limbo sounded when Urahara explained it to him, Naruto was sure the Kyuubi would fight back.

Oh...and this had to be done before Naruto's Chain of Fate finished dissolving and he became whatever the Hollow equivalent was for a Bijuu of Kyuubi's power.

'_Alright, Naruto's chain is barely a quarter dissolved, so barring any complications it should be smooth sailing,'_ thought the twelfth division captain as he drew his zanpakuto and attached something to the bottom of the hilt. Then he stuck the end of his zanpakuto into the hole in Naruto's stomach.

He was surprised, one would think being stabbed with a zanpakuto or whatever would hurt, after all it was a sword. But strangely enough it just passed right into him, and he could feel something being drawn out of him. As he looked down he saw Urahara's zanpakuto retract from him, and it was pulling a familiar looking red energy.

The shinigami's face was the picture of concentration, while Naruto's held a look of wonder as he watched the Kyuubi's soul being drawn from him...just a few more moments and he'd finally be free.

As Urahara finished drawing out the Kyuubi's soul, Naruto could have sworn he saw the head of a familiar looking fox and smile maliciously at him...Before suddenly his body felt like if was on fire.

The blond haired shinigami couldn't help but curse his luck; he was just thinking to himself how easy this was. Then the Kyuubi started fighting back, but he couldn't really blame the fox demon, limbo was hardly a paradise.

Looking at Naruto's chain he estimated that it was almost halfway dissolved, but now that the Kyuubi was fighting back it was going to go a lot slower.

Naruto could almost hear the Kyuubi laughing in his head as it fought against Urahara. He had to bite down on his tongue to keep from screaming. But finally the Kyuubi had been drawn from Naruto, it was hard to believe that he was finally free of it. As a portal to what must have been hell began drawing the Kyuubi's soul into it. The ex-shinobi looked straight at the mass of red energy that had been the bane of his existence and saw the energy once again form into the head of a fox.

Except this time the fox head looked straight at him and smiled...before flaring its energy and snapping the chain coming from Naruto's stomach.

'_Oh, well that's bad...'_ Urahara couldn't finish his thought due to the explosion of foul reiatsu that came from Naruto, throwing him across the cavern.

If Naruto thought he was in pain before than what he was feeling now defied any known description. Having all his skin melt off every time he went four-tails was nothing compared to this new pain.

"**Are you enjoying this human? My final parting gift is to turn you into the monster you were always affraid you might become.**"said the Kyuubi in an amused tone, clearly enjoying the pain it was putting the boy through, even as it passed through the portal to face it's judgement.

"I am sick and tired of you ruining my life, if you think I'm just going to roll over and let you do whatever it is you're doing, then you don't know me at all!" exclaimed Naruto

The explosion of reiatsu from Kyuubi had thrown Urahara Kisuke clear across the cavern Naruto had died in. As he made his way back to Naruto he saw that slowly but surely, the boy was transforming into a Hollow.

It was with a sorrowful look on his face that he picked up his zanpakuto and prepared to slay Naruto. But then something happened that Urahara had never thought possible...Naruto drew on his own reiatsu.

Dark ocean blue energy battled against ferocious red. The blond haired shinigami couldn't believe it, even if it was only a subconscious response to combat the Kyuubi, Naruto drew on his reiatsu.

But Urahara was at a loss as far as what to do; he figured Naruto couldn't keep this up forever. So...he took his zanpakuto and performed **Konso** (Soul Burial) in him, and Naruto vanished in a flash of red and blue.

"Well that was certainly...interesting." said Urahara to nobody in particular before opening a portal back to Sereitei.

* * *

Naruto was confused, he wasn't where he was a few moments ago.

"Welcome to Sereitei Naruto-san," said Urahara, once again adopting his carefree, cheerful persona.

Judging by the vacant expression on Naruto's face, he would have to explain about Sereitei and the Rugonkai again…and so he did.

"So basically this is your secret training area and nobody will know that I'm here, right Urahara-san?"

"Hmm…yea that's pretty much it. A fusion between Hollow and Shinigami powers is something that has only been rumored to be possible; you are the first case of such a thing ever. Based on your little demonstration earlier I'd say it's paramount you learn to control your power. Hollows, or beings possessing hollow reiatsu in your case aren't looked upon favorably in Sereitei" explained the shinigami.

Naruto couldn't help but be a bit depressed at that, the possibility presented itself again for him to be hated for what he contained within him.

'_But Urahara-san said I was the first documented case of…whatever I am. If that's the case I'll just show everyone that they don't have anything to worry about just because I have hollow inside me!'_

As a scientist Urahara Kisuke was quite adept at the art of observation, which is what he was doing currently to Naruto. Based on what little he gathered of the young man's life, the possibility of being hated for what he never asked to be put inside him even in death was bound to be depressing. But in Naruto's case the depression seemed to only last for the briefest of moments before his face adopted a look of pure determination.

"Well Naruto-san on top of teaching you to control your reiatsu I will also be studying your unique power. Obviously this means I won't be able to help you all the time, so when I am unavailable you will be working with one of my closest friends."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in genuine curiosity, wondering what kind of friends the seemingly eccentric shinigami might have. Suddenly Naruto found himself with a decidedly feminine pair of arms draped around his neck and two rather sizeable _mounds_ pressed against his back.

"Well well well Kisuke, this one is quite the looker isn't he?" said a female voice in a very seductive manner.

Despite his face being an interesting shade of red, Naruto decided to turn around to see who this strange temptress might be. And when he did, Naruto came face to face with undoubtedly one of the most beautiful females he had ever seen.

She had extremely tan skin, dark purple hair, yellow eyes and a body that defined the word voluptuous. She had a rather playful look on her face which coupled with the skintight outfight she was wearing helped accentuate the fact that everything about this woman screamed sex. With that in mind, Naruto was assaulted with dozens of perverted images of him doing _things _with this stranger.

And so he did what any heterosexual teenage boy would do in his position…he passed out due to blood loss via the nose.

"Well Yoruichi, it looks like you win the bet." Said Urahara

Yourichi just grinned.

Once Naruto had regained consciousness, and stressed that Yoruichi keep at least three feet away from him at all times, Kisuke explained that Yoruichi would be helping teach Naruto when he, himself was unable.

"So lemme get this straight, _she_ is gonna be helping me when you can't?" asked the blond in an incredulous tone.

"Hai, is there something wrong with that?"

"Well let me think," began Naruto sarcastically, "aside from the possibility of her trying to sexually harass me again, she's so young, what could she teach me?"

"Naruto, Yoruichi is a member of the Shihouin family, one of the four noble houses of Sereitei. Not only that, but she's my captain. There are few people who would be better to teach you the history of Sereitei than a member of one of the noble houses. That aside she is going to help me teach you to control the immense reiatsu you have. And though she may look young, she is well over a century old…as am I." said the shinigami.

"Oh ok…well let's get started." said Naruto

And so for the next two years Naruto spent all his time in this secret area. He would learn about the history of Sereitei as well as the shinigami from Yoruichi, and then Urahara would help him work on reiatsu control unless he was busy with research, in which case Yoruichi would fill in.

Urahara tended to be busy quite often when they would meet; he had a tendency to become lost in his work, particularly when he was studying Naruto. Thanks to Urahara he learned that unlike when he was alive, this hollow was a part of him now unlike the Kyuubi that was merely sealed inside of him. The way Naruto understood it was it was similar to having multiple personalities. He theorized that there should be a way for Naruto to add attributes of this hollow (mainly its power) to his own rather than having it take over his body.

Naruto was definitely not a scientist, nor was he really inclined towards anything scientific, but in this case he found himself interested, particularly since he was the subject of study.

One thing Urahara had discovered for certain, that beings that were a fusion of both shinigami and hollow had a potential for growth that easily surpassed what either could accomplish separately.

With Yoruichi, she found teaching Naruto the history of Sereitei to be a frustrating endeavor, mainly because Naruto hated history and bookwork. When he was alive at the Shinobi Academy he tended to skip class the day of history lessons. The problem here was that there was nowhere for Naruto to go. And whenever he would zone out, Yoruichi was right there.

But Naruto put forth his best efforts when it came to reiatsu control. While it didn't come easy for Naruto, he definitely found it easy than when he had to train to develop chakra control. All three of them figured that it had to do with the fact that the power he had to learn to control was only his own. As Naruto sat down in a meditative position, he couldn't help but feel bored. He had spent the past two years of his life in this hidden cave of Urahara's. His everyday life consisted of one of two things: studying or practicing.

'_What I wouldn't give for something exciting to happen.'_ That the blond to himself as he concentrated on the exercise he was about to do. He was trying to draw out his reiatsu and then increase it at a consistent pace for as long as he could manage.

He started drawing on his reiatsu with Yoruichi standing there watching. His reiatsu seemed to form a pillar and swirl about him, holding true to his namesake. Yoruichi noticed how it was a beautiful shade of blue that matched his eyes. Naruto did his best to concentrate and gradually increasing how much reiatsu he drew upon.

And he was successful, slowly but surely the reiatsu swirling around him increased in intensity.

Before he had the chance to say anything to Yoruichi, pain coursed through his chest. Naruto stopped consciously drawing on his reiatsu as he dropped to the floor, but it continued to swirl about him and Yoruichi could make out strands of red amidst the blue.

'_Gah…it…hurts!'_

Uzumaki Naruto was in pain, and it was taking everything he had in him not to scream. He offhandedly thought that he had only experienced pain like this once before, and as he recalled when that was, his eyes widened in surprise before he ripped open his shirt to expose his chest.

By now Urahara had arrived, as the sensors he had installed in his secret training area alerted him to a massive surge of reiatsu. He arrived to see Naruto take off his shirt…only to see a hole starting to form around the area his Chain of Fate had been.

As unlikely as it seemed, the more he watched Naruto writhe on the ground, the more other physical signs began to show confirming his theory.

He couldn't explain how or why…but Uzumaki Naruto was turning into a hollow.

A seal design he had never seen before appeared on Naruto's stomach, there was a gap in the middle of the design that seemed to be made for the still expanding hole in his stomach to fill. His fingernails were lengthening into claws and in the brief glimpses of the boy's eyes that he was able to catch, they were flickering between red and blue.

But what really caught his attention was white particle seemed to generate out of nowhere, and they were gathering on Naruto's face to form…a hollow mask.

Urahara glanced at Yoruichi and they both nodded, before turning back towards Naruto and drawing their zanpakutos.

"Come on Naruto, you have to fight it" said Yoruichi worriedly.

And then in a flash of red light…Naruto vanished.

(Location Unknown)

Uzumaki Naruto, former shinobi of Konoha, woke up to find himself face down on the ground. As he picked himself up off the ground he looked around in an attempt to figure out what had happened.

Only to discover his was nowhere near where he used to be. As Naruto looked around all he saw was desert and black skies for as far as the eye could see. Realizing he was in a less than opportune situation he did what came natural to him…he yelled at the Kyuubi.

'_You damn fox, even in death you still had to ruin my life. What the hell have you done to me now?'_ yelled an extremely irate Naruto inside his own head.

* * *

**A/N: **Well here we have it, the first chapter. This story is part of the reason I haven't been able to write much for my other two. So I had been helping LD 1449 iron out ideas for his Naruto/Bleach crossover & in turn decided to try my hand at one myself. I had been thinking about it for a while, but my conversations with him are what really made up my mind.

Like I said on my page it will not be your typical Naruto/Bleach crossover (at least I hope not). Also pairings have been chosen, Naruto's zanpakuto has been chosen…so please do not give me any suggestions on your personal preferences in either category. They won't change anything & I don't want to hear them. It will be NaruHarem strictly using the girls from Bleach & no I won't tell you. In this story the pairing will be unknown until they are revealed in the story.

And so…here it is, I hope you enjoy. Also it is highly unlikely that you will see an update to this before 2008. I know that begs the question why am I putting this out now? Simple…because I couldn't concentrate on my other stories as well as I wanted until I did.

Ja Ne!


	2. Chapter 2

**Death Brings New Life**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Bleach or anything else.

**Kyuubi Speech: "speech"**

**Thinking: '**_speech'_

* * *

"Uggh, it feels like I got the hell beat out of me." Said Naruto groggily

Slowly he made his way to a sitting position and proceeded to get his bearings. Looking around he saw the white sands of a desert for as far as he could see, this told him he was no longer in Urahara's secret hide away…and judging by the malevolent aura this place seemed to give off, he was probably no longer in Sereitei.

'_So the last thing I remember was this feeling of enormous power and this searing pain in my chest.'_

As the blond looked himself over he spotted a small hole in his chest, and given everything he had learned from Urahara that could only mean one thing…

He had become a Hollow, which meant this place was Hueco Mundo.

But something wasn't right; everything he had been told about hollows led him to believe that all but the most powerful were horrid looking monsters. And yet, aside from the hole in his chest, he appeared perfectly human. To be sure he felt his face, and realized that he had no hollow mask.

'_What in the hell happened to me? Well Urahara did say something about me being a fusion between shinigami and hollow courtesy of Kyuubi snapping my chain-thingy before he moved on.' _Thought the former shinobi to himself.

With that thought, Naruto set off to explore his new surrounding. A soft breeze ran through his hair as he set off against the wind, it was an old shinobi habit, moving against the wind…it made it slightly more difficult for his sent to be picked up.

'_And in a world full of monsters I think I'll need all the help I can get.'_ Thought Naruto to himself wryly.

* * *

Urahara Kisuke, 3rd seated officer of the second squad of the Gotei 13 had always been a curious person. He was never content with doing things simply because that was how they were always done…he was the type of person who always had to know why something was done and if there was a way to do it better.

That was why he was so intrigued by Uzumaki Naruto. The whole idea of using a human to contain the power of a demon, thus giving him the ability to wield the demon's power as their own made him wonder if it was possible for a shinigami to wield the power of a hollow and vice versa. Of course the Kyuubi had answered that question with an emphatic yes, when in it's last act of cruelty against Naruto, it snapped his Chain of Fate before moving on.

But now the boy was gone, vanished into thin air apparently.

'_Boy that was one explanation I did not enjoy giving Yoruichi, she had grown rather fond of the little guy.'_ Thought Urahara to himself, wincing as he remembered the beating/sparring session he had been forced to endure as a result.

With that the blond shinigami put his thoughts of fusion between shinigami and hollow off in the back of his mind and moved on to his next oh so brilliant idea.

After achieving shikai the first step towards bankai involved physically manifesting the inner spirit of one's zanpakuto, this normally took decades or centuries…and again Urahara Kisuke was not happy with this.

"I wonder if it's possible to force your zanpakuto to manifest and achieve bankai faster than that."

* * *

"I hate hollows and I hate deserts."

These were the grumblings of one Uzumaki Naruto as he continued his trek through the seemingly endless desert of Hueco Mundo. For indeed save for a few dead looking trees and partially decaying structures the landscape had not changed.

But the past few weeks had not been boring; in fact they had been quite enlightening. For despite his desire to stay out of trouble, it seems he has the same type of luck in death that he had in life…so trouble flocked to him.

He had been attacked a few times by some weaker hollows and in being attacked discovered a new ability of his. Apparently he could coat his arms in reiatsu as a shield of sorts; he could also attack by extending the reiatsu from his fingertips in the form of a whip.

While the discovering of a new ability might normally improve his mood, that was not so in this case…because after wandering aimlessly for hours he still was no closer to figuring out anything that might help him.

Just as he was set to voice his displeasure yet again, he sensed something, or rather two someones. Two fairly strong someones who appeared to be fighting if his senses were correct.

Now Naruto knew that it was probably not a good idea to intrude on a fight between two hollows that were this strong, but curiosity and boredom got the better of him…so he decided to go and take a look.

* * *

Neliel Tu Oderschvank, 3rd Espada, lay bleeding on the ground. Nnoitora had finally bested her in battle, all it took was the threatening of her fraccion and a well placed ambush from Szaelapollo. As she looked up as the smug face of Nnoitora she could feel herself getting weaker and weaker.

When suddenly…she turned into a child.

"She turned into a child?" asked Nnoitora in a tone somewhere in between shock and amusement.

"Truly interesting, a phenomena I have never witnessed," began Szaelapollo , "perhaps her reiatsu is leaking through the wound in her mask and her spiritual body shrunk as a result."

He spared the child before him one final glance before leaving.

"Ha ha ha! Who gives a shit why it happ…" Nnoitora never got to finish his thought as a well placed kick to his jaw sent him tumbling across the floor, but he was not down long.

"Who the fuck just did that?" he screamed in an enraged tone.

"That would be me" answered a voice from just behind him.

The 8th Espada turned around to see a young man with blond hair and blue eyes, he wore black hakama and the tattered remains of what used to be some sort of white shirt. But what was odd about this person was the fact that even though he had a hollow hole, he had no remnants of a hollow mask whatsoever.

Nnoitora watched as the stranger bent down to take a look at the bleeding child who had been Neliel Tu Oderschvank, he then ripped off what was left of his shirt and used it to stem the bleeding. It was at this point that he happened to notice that his supposed 'partner' was no longer here.

'_He served his purpose by beating the hell out of Neliel's fraccion, so he can go off and do whatever the fuck he wants.'_

Naruto, having somewhat stopped the bleeding, picked Neliel up in his arms and made his way over to tend to the injuries of her subordinates. This seemed to be the last straw for their attacker; apparently he did not like to be ignored.

"Hey blondie, I asked you who the hell you are" said Nnoitora

Having tended to the wounded as best he could, Naruto put the little girl down next to the others before responding, "You know when you want to know somebody's name, it considered polite to give yours first."

Try as he might, Nnoitora couldn't help but smirk as the wisecrack, "8th Espada Nnoitora Jiruga."

"Well Nnoitora, why is it you do not look like what Hollows are typically depicted as?"

"Because I am more than a mere hollow, I am a hollow which has transcended the boundaries between shinigami and hollow, by removing my mask. I am an Arrancar." Replied Nnoitora

"So all you with the broken masks are hollows with shinigami powers? That's interesting seeing as such a thing is thought to be impossible" said the blond

"Well it is and we're living proof, although I don't know what the hell you are," stated Nnoitora, "that hole in your chest proves you are clearly a hollow and yet you have no pieces of a mask. Hopefully you're pretty strong; it would be a shame for you to die before I can enjoy a good fight."

And with that he picked up his weapon and charged the unarmed Naruto, he was upon him in an instant and made to bring his weapon down in what would have been a crushing overhead slash…

only to have the blade be stopped by an open palm.

"I am Namikaze Naruto, and I hate people who pick on those who can't defend themselves." He replied in an emotionless tone.

With that he pushed off on the giant scythe looking weapon, before he extended two fingers on his right hand and swept them towards his opponent in a slashing motion. And from his fingertips came forth a tendril of reiatsu.

Nnoitora leapt back to avoid this whip of reiatsu his opponent had made, as it struck the ground where he had stood he noticed it tore through the ground like it hadn't been there at all, leaving a deep fissure.

"That's a nice little trick you got there, don't think I've seen anything like it. In fact I might even be able to respect you as an opponent one day, if you weren't one of those do-good, protect people weaker than you motherfuckers that I can't stand." Said Nnoitora as he looked at Naruto with the utmost loathing.

Naruto tensed as he prepared for his opponent to resume his attack, so he was quite surprised when Nnoitora lowered his weapon and began to walk away.

"If Neliel survives, tell her that she may stand before me again when she has regained her powers" was the last thing the 8th Espada said before vanishing before Naruto's eyes.

Naruto was tending to a small fire when he heard movement from one of his 'patients' as it were as he glanced over he noticed it was the little green haired girl that Nnoitora had injured.

"Whath going on? Where am I? Who are you?" asked the little girl in a frightened voice.

Naruto knelt down and smiled in an attempt to appear as non threatening as possible.

"Hello there, my name is Naruto. What's your name?"

Deciding that this stranger seemed friendly, the little girl responded, "My name ith Nell."

"Well it's nice to meet you Nell, I'm the one that took care of that nasty wound on your head."

Reaching up to feel her throbbing head, she noticed the crude wrapping around it. Vague memories came to her of fighting…someone.

"Naruto…who did thith to me?"

"A bad man did that to you," began a frowning Naruto, "but you don't need to worry about him because he left and won't be coming back."

"Thank you" said Nell as she offered a wide, gap toothed smile.

Naruto was about to respond when he remembered that he was also supposed to be looking after Nell's subordinates, but when he checked on them he noticed that they had succumbed to their injuries.

Nell was all alone.

Right then and there Naruto decided he would look after Nell until she returned to her original form and could look after herself. If the rest of these Arrancar were as 'friendly' as Nnoitora, than one little girl probably wouldn't last long by herself.

"Say Nell, how about you come with me and we find somewhere else to stay?"

Now on one hand Nell had just met Naruto, so he could just be pretending to be nice to trick her. Also he didn't have a mask, so he couldn't be an Arrancar, but he had a hollow hole in his chest so he couldn't be a shinigami. And she could just tell that he genuinely wanted to help her.

"Okay" she replied a little hesitantly

The ex-shinobi reached down to help Nell to her feet, but the instant they touched hands something began to happen. Naruto could feel his reiatsu start to rise. And he could see red reiatsu flowing from his hand, up her little arm and straight into the wound on her mask. Before Naruto could let go he was thrown back by an explosion and lost conciousness.

* * *

(Hours Later)

"Damnit, I keep getting knocked out by explosions of my own reiatsu" grumbled Naruto to himself as he tried to sit up.

But as he tried to sit up he noticed that Nell was gone, but a strangely familiar (and attractive) woman was in her place.

This woman was wearing little more than rags, and given the fact she was quite butsy they clung to her frame rather tightly. But what really caught Naruto's attention was the hollow mask with a scar right down the middle and a familiar shade of green hair.

"Nell?"

That was all Naruto had a chance to say before he found himself smothered by a rather large pair of breasts.

"Naruto! You're okay" exclaimed Nell cheerfully

"Well it's nice to see you too Nell." Said Naruto sarcastically from in between her breasts.

With that Nell released Naruto and he got up to his feet. Looking around, he saw the surrounding area had also been affected by the explosion of reiatsu.

"I wanted to thank you for whatever you did Naruto," said Nell sincerely, "I appreciate you returning me to this form."

"The thing is, I have no idea what happened. My hollow reiatsu seems to act of its own accord at times."

"Well that brings me to asking just what exactly are you? You are neither hollow nor shinigami, but some fusion of both." Said Nell

Naruto was about to reply to her question when he remembered what had just taken place.

"We can discuss this later, but right now we should move before anybody comes to investigate that explosion of my reiatsu."

"Very well, but first I must gather my injured comrades" stated Nell

The ex-shinobi remembered that he still had not told Nell that she was the only survivor of the attack. He wasn't sure how to tell her, so he decided to just come out and say it.

"Their injuries were too severe, they didn't make it" said Naruto somberly.

Nell did not react to the news like he had expected, for some reason he had expected her to start crying and become emotional. While she was visibly sad at the loss of her companions, she appeared to keep her composure. After grief, she seemed to find cold fury an appropriate response. And Naruto could guess who it was directed at.

'_Nnoitora you bastard. I won't let you hurt Nell again'_ promised Naruto to himself.

"We need to get out of here Nell" said Naruto gently, shaking the former Espada out of her thoughts.

Wordlessly she began to walk off, and Naruto followed his new companion.

* * *

(Meanwhile in Sereitei)

Hirako Shinji, captain of the 5th division of the Gotei 13 glanced around at the captains and vice captains gathered in the 1st division headquarters for this meeting and noted that all had been gathered, save for the new captain of the 11th division Zaraki Kenpachi and the person they were waiting for.

_I wish this guy would show up so we could get started.'_ Shinji thought to himself

Almost as if on cue, the doors began to open and in walked the newly appointed 12th squad captain, Urahara Kisuke.

"Eh, looks like I'm the last one to show up." Said Urahara as he scratched the back of his head in what appeared to be a nervous habit.

Needless to say, at first glance Shinji was not impressed, "This one looks like he's a few cards short of a full deck."

Meanwhile Shinji's vice captain, Aizen Sosuke had a look on his face that suggested he thought there was more to Urahara Kisuke than met the eye.

"It certainly appears that way" he said to himself in barely a whisper.

"Ah hello, sorry I'm late," began the new captain in a bashful tone, "it's really nice to meet you all."

The new captain's greeting did not elicit a response from his peers.

"So umm, is it alright to continue?" He asked, appearing to get increasingly more uncomfortable due to the scrutiny he was under.

"Stop acting so hesitant! You're a captain now Kisuke so stand tall" came the voice of his former commander, the captain of the 2nd squad Shihouin Yoruichi.

A swift kick in the rear from Yoruichi put got the new captain moving to take his position as the captain of the 1st squad and commander of the Gotei 13, Yamamoto Genryuusai-Shigenkuni came through the door.

As soon as he entered, the hall immediately became silent.

"Now that everyone is gathered let us begin the promotion ceremony…"

* * *

**A/N: **Well here it is, after all this time. A few things to say: First, Kyuubi will have no more bearing on this story, I just thought it was appropriate for it to have one final act of cruelty towards Naruto. Second is that Naruto characters will have no bearing on the story. Some may still appear, but they will be no more significant than someone Naruto comes across in the Rugonkai, they won't remember him & he'll only find anyone he knew in life vaguely familiar.

Finally if any of you are confused as to what exactly Naruto is…good. At the moment he is purposely neither an Arrancar nor a Vaizard. He will eventually end up as one or the other, but I'm not telling you which.

Yes Nell is indeed restored to her true form for good. I know her fraccion are still alive in the manga, but I don't need them for what I have planned for her.

Nothing shockingly important happened here I know, but I did want him to be acquainted with Nell early on…hence he's in Las Noches. It won't last, I will probably have him end up back in Sereitei next chapter.


End file.
